Top Stories 
Published On May 3, 2006
POLICY
Blood Count
The need for—and dearth of—one precious commodity.
2
Seconds that pass until another American needs a transfusion
4,500,000
Number of American lives saved each year by transfusions
48
Gallons of blood an American could donate if she began giving at age 17 and gave every 56 days until reaching age 76
5
Estimated annual percentage of eligible Americans who donate
500,000
Number of Americans who donated in the days following the September 11 attacks
29,000,000
Number of units of blood components transfused in 2001 (a single donation can be divided into plasma, platelets and red blood cells)
2
Times as likely heart patients are to die after a transfusion to treat blood loss or anemia as heart patients who do not receive a transfusion, possibly because of such problems as artery disease aggravated by the transfusion.
Dispatches
A Secret Sense Receptors that can smell and taste exist throughout the body. Can they be allies in learning to fight disease?
A Battle Plan for Sepsis Hospitals get a step closer to conquering a deadly disease that most people have never heard of.
Too Much of a Good Thing Exercise is usually healthy. But taken to an extreme, can it put the heart in peril?
Higher Education Medical marijuana has swept the country, but physicians aren’t trained how to use it.
Homegrown Kayse Shrum is launching the first U.S. medical school affiliated with a Native American tribe—part of a strategy to train doctors where they’re needed most.
Out of Pediatric Care, Into…? For young people with chronic illnesses, the transition into adult care can be uncharted—and dangerous—territory.
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